College baseball counting on its new baseball to help change the game back to its future.

A new Rawlings manufactured baseball for next season will feature a flat-seam pattern, rather than its current raised-seam. The design is to make the ball carry up to 20 feet further, which may bring more offense and home runs back into the game.

Not a moment too soon, the coaches say.

"It's just a travesty what we've done to college baseball," said Texas Christian coach Jim Schlossnagle, during his team's three-game stay at the College World Series.

The college game has seen the metal bats dialed back, the hitters challenged and the game dulled. The teams at the College World Series combined to bat .219. It's the lowest batting average since 1972. Back then, wood bats were used.

Because of its location in Omaha and enormous support of the people there, the College World Series has steadily grown interest in collegiate baseball.

The coaches want their game back.

"People don't want to see teams come out and bunt," said Southern Mississippi coach Scott Berry, whose team faced the Florida Gators in a March 4 game at the Blue Wahoos stadium.

Before that game, Berry and Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan explained the hopeful effect of the new baseball.

"We took the offense out of the bat when we changed the bats (in 2011). Now we're trying to put the offense back without making the bat hotter," Berry said. "We're trying to put more offense in without sacrificing safety.

"When the ball was tested, it doesn't come off the bat faster. It just carries better."

When next season begins, coaches are expecting more offense to return. The game needs it. The majority of collegiate hitters need a boost.

The ones with great bats get drafted.

"The bats have changed our game, no question about it. It is totally changed," O'Sullivan said. "You see outfielders not playing deep anymore. Now guys really have to know who they are offensively.

"I think everybody across the board will welcome the new baseball. If it can help offense a little bit, I think it will be good for our game."

This year's College World Series featured a thrilling final game and a breakthrough champion. John Norwood's eighth inning home run became the deciding run in Vanderbilt's 3-2 victory against Virginia in the championship series deciding game.

It was only the third home run hit in the two-week event. Only 25 homers were hit in four years, coinciding with the bats changing and the venue moving to Omaha's downtown TD Ameritrade Park.

The ballpark's dimensions are the exact same of the former location, Rosenblatt Stadium.

The difference is the wind is not blowing out like it often did at Rosenblatt and the bats don't have the same pop.